Rex Ryan called it a "public bashing," his SlideGate scolding of Mark Sanchez. It was out of character for Ryan to rip one of his players, but you have to understand the depth of his frustration. He had been on Sanchez's case since August, when an innocent goal-line drill in training camp provided the fodder for the first warning.

Sanchez was flushed right and dived into the end zone that day in Cortland, narrowly avoiding linebacker Bart Scott, who was smart enough to back off at the last moment. In a real game, the rookie quarterback would've been trucked. As the play unfolded, Ryan, miked by SNY, yelled, "Whistle! Whistle!" In fact, he screamed it seven times, clearly concerned.

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Moments later, on the sideline, Ryan expressed his displeasure, albeit with humor.

"Hey, (GM Mike) Tannenbaum just said Woody (Johnson) will fire us all if the quarterbacks go headfirst with the ball," Ryan told Sanchez.

"Yep, I gotcha," Sanchez replied, nodding.

After four months of warnings and lectures, not to mention a personal sliding tutorial from Joe Girardi, Sanchez went out and did it again Thursday night against the Bills. He dived for a first down - got it, too - but injured his right knee. It could've been disastrous, but the Jets, who have experienced their share of quarterback calamities over the years, got good news yesterday when an MRI exam revealed a relatively minor knee sprain. He may not miss a game.

Unless the verbal beatdown from his coach causes a case of whiplash.

"If you polled 32 quarterbacks, 30 of them would've said go for it, or 31 of them," said Ryan, still agitated some 14 hours later. "He's my quarterback - he's our quarterback - and I want him to slide."

Say this for Sanchez: He inspires debate. Whether the issue is sideline decorum (Hot dogs! Get yer hot dogs!) or news conference etiquette (wanting to control the Qs and the As) or throwing interceptions (remember your color codes), Sanchez gets people talking.

The latest controversy is SlideGate. We can argue the pros and cons of aggressiveness versus caution until Vernon Gholston records his first sack - and that could be awhile - but here is the bottom line:

Ryan is the sheriff and he made the law - slide. Sanchez broke the law. He deserves a rebuke from his coach. Ryan went over the top with his criticism - calling him a "knucklehead" was a bit much - but he evidently felt it was the best way to convey a message that wasn't getting through.

Boomer Esiason, for one, thought there was nothing wrong with Sanchez's non-slide.

"It was a terrific play, just a football player making a play," the former quarterback said in a phone interview. "Who's to say if he slid on the turf, which was awful, that he wouldn't have blown his knee out? And if he didn't get the first down, he would've been roasted.

"I know what Rex is saying, but I know what Mark was trying to accomplish. Let's be men, let's play football and let's do what football players are supposed to do."

The irony here is that Ryan, who built his reputation by coaching his players to harass quarterbacks, is doing everything in his power to protect his own. He's like a big left tackle, guarding his quarterback's blind side - except, in this case, it's blind aggressiveness. Sanchez is the present and future of the franchise, and he needs to understand there's a time to be Superman and a time to be Clark Kent. On Thursday night, in that situation, it called for the latter.

But he's young and he will learn, just as Ryan will mature as a head coach. They're in it together. As Ryan said, "This is like one of my sons here." He's already done enough yelling. What next, timeout?